upgrade XP to the new indows Vista?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jochen Wenk
  • Start date Start date
J

Jochen Wenk

Hello newsgroup,

Will it be possible to ugrade Windows XP to the new Windows Vista (once it's
out)? Or does Vista have to be installed from scratch?
Any ideas?

Thanks.
 
Upgrades would have to be a primary concern of Microsoft's.

But at this stage of development, the only known thing about
Vista is some fairly stringent hardware minimums. However, I
doubt that a "Clean Install" only OS would do very well in the
Home user marketplace. There is almost a full year before the
Vista code will be available. It's likely that in the 2nd-half of
next year consumers may be offered a "Preview" edition. By
then the requirements should be well documented.
 
Vista is "still" in the beta testing stage! It is really up to Microsoft
but there should be an Upgrade path. Any indication, MS may only make the
upgrade available to upgrade from XP only.
 
Hi,

When it's released, there will be options to upgrade.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
In
Jochen Wenk said:
Will it be possible to ugrade Windows XP to the new Windows
Vista
(once it's out)? Or does Vista have to be installed from
scratch?
Click to expand...


To my knowledge, Microsoft hasn't anounced the answer to that
question. However, every new version of Windows has always had an
Upgrade version available, and there's no reason to expect
anything different with Vista.
 
Jochen Wenk said:
Hello newsgroup,

Will it be possible to ugrade Windows XP to the new Windows Vista (once
it's out)? Or does Vista have to be installed from scratch?
Any ideas?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I'm sure if upgrading from WindowsXP you'll have to activate WinXP then the
Pista upgrade. It's the MS way.

- Winux P
 
Winux P said:
I'm sure if upgrading from WindowsXP you'll have to activate WinXP then
the Pista upgrade. It's the MS way.
Click to expand...


What do you mean by "activate"? My XP is activated or is it not? It's not
stolen!
 
Jochen Wenk said:
Hello newsgroup,

Will it be possible to ugrade Windows XP to the new Windows Vista (once
it's out)? Or does Vista have to be installed from scratch?
Any ideas?
Click to expand...

OK, here's the straight answer: Nobody knows.

Windows Vista is currently in the first beta stage and there might or might
not be a lot of changes between now and the final version so we can only
guess. My guess is that if you get the 32 bit version of Vista it will
upgrade your current XP installation and if you have a 64 bit computer and
get the 64 bit version of Vista, it will not upgrade your current version of
XP.

But, again, nobody can really say for sure, we're still a year or more away
from the final version(s) of Vista.
 
I always advise against upgrading, when moving from an older OS to a new
one. Any problems present in the old system will still be there after
the upgrade. I've always preferred to scrap the old system entirely and
install the full-bore version of the new system on a newly-formatted
hard drive.

Sure, it costs extra to do that, but it's like this: if after having
spent thousands on a computer, why quibble about an extra hundred or so
for an operating system?
 
In
Harry Monster said:
I always advise against upgrading, when moving from an older OS
to a
new one. Any problems present in the old system will still be
there
after the upgrade. I've always preferred to scrap the old
system
entirely and install the full-bore version of the new system on
a
newly-formatted hard drive.

Sure, it costs extra to do that, but it's like this: if after
having
spent thousands on a computer, why quibble about an extra
hundred or
so for an operating system?
Click to expand...


If, by "costs extra," you mean that a Full version costs more
than an Upgrade version, you probably don't realize that an
Upgrade version *can* do a clean installation, just like that
done by a Full version. The requirement to use an upgrade version
is to *own* a previous qualifying version's installation CD (with
an OEM restore CD, see below), not to have it installed. When
setup doesn't find a previous qualifying version installed, it
will prompt you to insert its CD as proof of ownership. Just
insert the previous version's CD, and follow the prompts.
Everything proceeds quite normally and quite legitimately.
You can also do a clean installation if you have an OEM restore
CD of a previous qualifying version. It's more complicated, but
it *can* be done. First restore from the Restore CD. Then run the
XP upgrade CD from within that restored system, and change from
Upgrade to New Install. When it asks where, press Esc to delete
the partition and start over.



Also, regarding doing a clean installation vs an upgrade,

I disagree. Unlike with previous versions of Windows, an upgrade
to XP replaces almost everything, and usually works very well.
Presumably the Vista Upgrade will be similar.



My recommendation is to at least try the upgrade, since it's much
easier than a clean installation. You can always change your mind
and reinstall cleanly if problems develop.



However, don't assume that doing an upgrade relieves you of the
need to backup your data, etc. before beginning. Before starting
to upgrade, it's always prudent to recognize that things like a
sudden power loss can occur in the middle of it and cause the
loss of everything. For that reason you should make sure you have
backups and anything else you need to reinstall if the worst
happens.
 
It isn't necessary to purchase a Full product when taking the upgrade
path. As long as you have a validating prior version, you can use the
upgrade product to do a full/clean install. However, since some OEM
PCs no longer provide a XP CD-ROM the upgrade would need to
be started with the pre-existing OS on the drive and then use the disk
partitioning/formatting option to remove the old OS then clean install.

Thousands, most Desktop PCs today average around ~$500-600
unless your speaking about high-end/gaming machines. Even users
that build their own can create a nice machine for around that same
price range.
 
Ken said:
...an Upgrade version *can* do a clean installation, just like that
done by a Full version. The requirement to use an upgrade version
is to *own* a previous qualifying version's installation CD (with
an OEM restore CD, see below), not to have it installed.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you're correct in everything you've pointed out. And I've
probably been spending money needlessly on full versions. It eases my
mind to KNOW that any problems that crop up with the new OS are due to
some shortcoming of the new OS itself and not because of something from
the old OS that might have fallen through the cracks into my install.

I've followed this plan all the way from DOS 2.11 through half-a-dozen
changes of OS to my present XP/SP2. And it may be only because I've been
fantastically lucky, but I've experienced few of the problems I see
reported here every day. And who knows--maybe my system'll go down in
flames in the next five minutes...

Ain't computers GRAND?? [[grins]]
 
Harry Monster said:
I always advise against upgrading, when moving from an older OS to a new
one. Any problems present in the old system will still be there after
the upgrade. I've always preferred to scrap the old system entirely and
install the full-bore version of the new system on a newly-formatted
hard drive.

Sure, it costs extra to do that, but it's like this: if after having
spent thousands on a computer, why quibble about an extra hundred or so
for an operating system?
Click to expand...

If done correctly upgrades generally go very well. The biggest problem that
most people encounter, outside of the new OS not supporting the current
system's hardware, is trying to upgrade a system that is rife with spyware.
 
Harry said:
...The biggest problem that
most people encounter, outside of the new OS not supporting the current
system's hardware, is trying to upgrade a system that is rife with spyware.
Click to expand...

And that's one of the big reasons that I prefer to start from scratch
with a new system...
 
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